Words from pupils of G. I. Gurdjieff

Michel Conge

“[…] the secret is to be found in an entirely different quality. It is found in the attention, this living substance so poorly and so little understood, although each of us has access to it. I can always be attentive.

And the fundamental idea is: I am the attention. Where my attention is, there I am. If the attention is weak, I am weak, if it is mechanical, I am mechanical, if it is free, I am free.”

Attention and the two natures, p.8

Henriette Lannes

“In moments of sincerity with ourselves, we know and feel that something essential is missing from the way in which we live our lives. We lack a certain quality of being. But why would we seek it, if we believe that we already have it? Only recognition of this lack helps us see more clearly.
 
Our wish to work on ourselves then gains more breadth and connects us to our wish to be, which lives in the very depths of ourselves.”

The Fundamental Quest: The Journey of a Pupil of G. I. Gurdjieff, p. 36

Words from pupils of G. I. Gurdjieff

Words from pupils of
G. I. Gurdjieff

Michel Conge

“[…] the secret is to be found in an entirely different quality. It is found in the attention, this living substance so poorly and so little understood, although each of us has access to it. I can always be attentive.

And the fundamental idea is: I am the attention. Where my attention is, there I am. If the attention is weak, I am weak, if it is mechanical, I am mechanical, if it is free, I am free.”

Attention and the two natures, p.8

Henriette Lannes

“In moments of sincerity with ourselves, we know and feel that something essential is missing from the way in which we live our lives. We lack a certain quality of being. But why would we seek it, if we believe that we already have it? Only recognition of this lack helps us see more clearly.
 
Our wish to work on ourselves then gains more breadth and connects us to our wish to be, which lives in the very depths of ourselves.”

The Fundamental Quest: The Journey of a Pupil of G. I. Gurdjieff, p. 36

Michel Conge

“[…] the secret is to be found in an entirely different quality. It is found in the attention, this living substance so poorly and so little understood, although each of us has access to it. I can always be attentive.

And the fundamental idea is: I am the attention. Where my attention is, there I am. If the attention is weak, I am weak, if it is mechanical, I am mechanical, if it is free, I am free.”

Attention and the two natures, p.8

Henriette Lannes

“In moments of sincerity with ourselves, we know and feel that something essential is missing from the way in which we live our lives. We lack a certain quality of being. But why would we seek it, if we believe that we already have it? Only recognition of this lack helps us see more clearly.
 
Our wish to work on ourselves then gains more breadth and connects us to our wish to be, which lives in the very depths of ourselves.”

The Fundamental Quest: The Journey of a Pupil of G. I. Gurdjieff, p. 36

Mr. Gurdjieff with the de Hartmanns
Mr. Gurdjieff with the de Hartmanns
Mr. Gurdjieff with the de Hartmanns

René Daumal

“Such a man awakens, in the morning, in his bed. He is barely up when he falls asleep again; while he surrenders to all the automatic habits that make his body get dressed, go out, walk, go to work, move about according to the daily pattern, eat, chat, read a newspaper—for in general it’s the body alone that takes care of all that—all the while, he is asleep. In order to wake up, he would need to think: “All this agitation is outside myself.” He would need an act of reflection. But if this act sets off in him new automatic habits, those of memory and of reasoning, his voice can continue to claim that he is still reflecting; but he has once again fallen asleep. He can spend whole days like this, without waking up for a single moment. Just think about this in the middle of a crowd, and you will see yourself surrounded by a population of sleepwalkers. […] And the only act you could do in that very moment is wake up and be aware of yourself.”

Les Dossiers H : Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, p.344
(Translated from French)

Henri Tracol

“The teaching of Gurdjieff falls within what he calls the fourth way. As the expression of a school of the fourth way, it has no definite form once and for all—which means: neither dogma nor ritual, strictly speaking.

It constantly disappears, and constantly needs to be discovered and rediscovered.

It imposes no prior renunciation, but requires, within ordinary life, a set of conditions appropriate for real work on oneself.

It opens the prospect of a deep transformation of one’s being through awakening and knowledge of oneself.”

Les Dossiers H : Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, p. 385
(Translated from French)

René Daumal

“Such a man awakens, in the morning, in his bed. He is barely up when he falls asleep again; while he surrenders to all the automatic habits that make his body get dressed, go out, walk, go to work, move about according to the daily pattern, eat, chat, read a newspaper—for in general it’s the body alone that takes care of all that—all the while, he is asleep. In order to wake up, he would need to think: “All this agitation is outside myself.” He would need an act of reflection. But if this act sets off in him new automatic habits, those of memory and of reasoning, his voice can continue to claim that he is still reflecting; but he has once again fallen asleep. He can spend whole days like this, without waking up for a single moment. Just think about this in the middle of a crowd, and you will see yourself surrounded by a population of sleepwalkers. […] And the only act you could do in that very moment is wake up and be aware of yourself.”

Les Dossiers H : Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, p.344 (Translated from French)

Henri Tracol

“The teaching of Gurdjieff falls within what he calls the fourth way. As the expression of a school of the fourth way, it has no definite form once and for all—which means: neither dogma nor ritual, strictly speaking.

It constantly disappears, and constantly needs to be discovered and rediscovered.

It imposes no prior renunciation, but requires, within ordinary life, a set of conditions appropriate for real work on oneself.

It opens the prospect of a deep transformation of one’s being through awakening and knowledge of oneself.”

Les Dossiers H : Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, p. 385 (Translated from French)

René Daumal

“Such a man awakens, in the morning, in his bed. He is barely up when he falls asleep again; while he surrenders to all the automatic habits that make his body get dressed, go out, walk, go to work, move about according to the daily pattern, eat, chat, read a newspaper—for in general it’s the body alone that takes care of all that—all the while, he is asleep. In order to wake up, he would need to think: “All this agitation is outside myself.” He would need an act of reflection. But if this act sets off in him new automatic habits, those of memory and of reasoning, his voice can continue to claim that he is still reflecting; but he has once again fallen asleep. He can spend whole days like this, without waking up for a single moment. Just think about this in the middle of a crowd, and you will see yourself surrounded by a population of sleepwalkers. […] And the only act you could do in that very moment is wake up and be aware of yourself.”

Les Dossiers H : Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, p.344 (Translated from French)

Henri Tracol

“The teaching of Gurdjieff falls within what he calls the fourth way. As the expression of a school of the fourth way, it has no definite form once and for all—which means: neither dogma nor ritual, strictly speaking.

It constantly disappears, and constantly needs to be discovered and rediscovered.

It imposes no prior renunciation, but requires, within ordinary life, a set of conditions appropriate for real work on oneself.

It opens the prospect of a deep transformation of one’s being through awakening and knowledge of oneself.”

Les Dossiers H : Georges Ivanovitch Gurdjieff, p. 385 (Translated from French)

Olga de Hartmann

“From the very beginning the conversations related to attention. Mr. Gurdjieff told us very seriously that attention is absolutely indispensable for any work we wished to do with him. If we did not understand that, nothing could bring us to the aim for which we came to him. All of us there already felt that we were more than just a body. We knew that “something else” was in us, and we wished to know: what is that? What have we to do with that? How can we call to it? How can we bring it out? How can we rely on it and not depend only on the body? All this was really a burning question for us, and Mr. Gurdjieff made it clear that if we didn’t study attention—not study in the ordinary way, but putting all our attention on developing that attention—we would arrive nowhere.”

Our Life with Mr. Gurdjieff, p. 45

Olga de Hartmann

“From the very beginning the conversations related to attention. Mr. Gurdjieff told us very seriously that attention is absolutely indispensable for any work we wished to do with him. If we did not understand that, nothing could bring us to the aim for which we came to him. All of us there already felt that we were more than just a body. We knew that “something else” was in us, and we wished to know: what is that? What have we to do with that? How can we call to it? How can we bring it out? How can we rely on it and not depend only on the body? All this was really a burning question for us, and Mr. Gurdjieff made it clear that if we didn’t study attention—not study in the ordinary way, but putting all our attention on developing that attention—we would arrive nowhere.”

Our Life with Mr. Gurdjieff, p. 45

Olga de Hartmann

“From the very beginning the conversations related to attention. Mr. Gurdjieff told us very seriously that attention is absolutely indispensable for any work we wished to do with him. If we did not understand that, nothing could bring us to the aim for which we came to him. All of us there already felt that we were more than just a body. We knew that “something else” was in us, and we wished to know: what is that? What have we to do with that? How can we call to it? How can we bring it out? How can we rely on it and not depend only on the body? All this was really a burning question for us, and Mr. Gurdjieff made it clear that if we didn’t study attention—not study in the ordinary way, but putting all our attention on developing that attention—we would arrive nowhere.”

Our Life with Mr. Gurdjieff, p. 45